The Barium of Ba is a gargantuan, efficient nation, notable for its digital currency, enslaved workforce, and parental licensing program. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 28.186 billion Bans are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The relatively small, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 36.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Ban economy, worth a remarkable 7,248 trillion Electrons a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Soda Sales, and Retail. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an amazing 257,175 Electrons, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

Clergy who start talking about politics are forced to take a holy vow of silence, mantis shrimp studies is academia's fastest-growing field, the saying "when pigs fly" has been changed to "when the lights work", and Calvinball players are lost for days as they wander the vast halls of their new academies. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ba's national animal is the Up quark, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Ba is ranked 7,541^st in the world and 1^st in Trav khar for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 46,632.21 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.